Donna, thanks for posting this. Unfortunately for other tasks I should be attending to, it was *necessary* for me to sit down and read through the entire thread again! Awesome work. And I DO like the IKEA rods, especially that the curtains ride on a track instead of slide on a rod.

I, too, like Robert Johan's solution to the curved rod issue. I think I would try it if I weren't so leery of putting holes in the fiberglass. I have a cabinet in back where it could anchor and even though I do not have side shelves/cabinets I think an end anchor on the closet and kitchen walls would be sturdy enough.

This photo shows my recent makeshift wrap-around curtain hack. I simply placed plastic tubing into the hollow curtain rods (after removing the finials). The hack gives the look of wrap-around but does not allow easy movement of the curtains in the way a track rod does.

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__________________The Gleeful Glamper
Gilda (Jill-da)
"Here we go again on another amazing adventure"

There are also those 3/8" diameter white fiberglass rods that are sold as garden stakes. I use one on the rear window and two on the "upstairs" windows. The other, shorter ones are clear plastic rods (tubes) that I salvaged from some domestic project. They are not as stiff as the fiberglass, but they make do. Their ends are plugged with short 1/4 - 20 pan head bolts that are glued in place so the rods do not slide through the rod supports. No more metal rods that bend at the slightest touch.